The knock at the door elicited a grumble from Nate. He had always been defensive, but with Dan it now bordered territorial and greedy. The young Archibald was now within striking distance of getting when he had wanted so fiercely since high school.

Dan rose from his spot, which was using Nate as a mattress, to answer the door. Nate kept a hand on Dan's wrist as long as possible, craving the simple action of contact. It was an entirely ordinary motion, but the motivation and intent that prompted it were anything but. When he felt himslef slightly tugged at, Dan looked down to see Nate's hand. There was a bit of melancholy to it all. Dan had been afraid of no one ever wanting him again, now someone refused to let him go. He ignored the second knock at the door as he bent over, full of purpose.

Nate felt his eyelids ease shut as Dan pressed a silent kiss to his forehead.

The only noise came from the startings of raindrops as they collided with the windows of The Loft. Nate's hand released from around Dan's wrist, fingers drifting over his hand. The two swapped low chuckles.

"I'm not going very far," Dan reassured. Nate nodded. The trace of Dan's husky whisper sent smoke through Nate's mind. It had been so very long since he had heard that particular side of Dan's voice. The deep and throaty tones that would sound so poetic no matter how mundane the subject matter were still an impossible mystery to Nate, as was the human that made them. His present array of deep thoughts, bolstered by the rhythm of the rain, stripped Nate of his sense of time. By the time he reopened his eyes, Dan was back on the couch and back on top of him again. "Hey." Dan said as Nate reopend his eyes.

"...What just happened?" Nate asked, voice still quiet, like anything above a whisper would shatter the beautiful glass-like nature of the moment. The raindrops outside picked up in frequency as Dan searched his mind, and heart, for a suitable answer.

"I sort of kissed you," Dan said, voice back to that sultry and smokey whisper. "Was that okay?" He asked, face neutral, but eyes showing dark stars.

"Yeah," Nate nodded, bringing an arm around Dan's torso. "More than okay."

"Why's that?" Dan asked, shifting on the couch so he could do his best to curl against Nate's lithe yet muscular frame.

"Because I've wanted it to happen for a long time," Nate explained, pushing himself into the couch so Dan had more room.

"Why?" Dan asked, for the life of him very curious.

"Because I've wanted to do it for a long time," Nate said, blue eyes locking with Dan's. Their gaze said more than any of their words, though that didn't mean they were going to stop trying. "I've just...wanted to."

Dan nodded, understanding entirely even if he didn't have the slightest clue as to why. "What have you wanted to do?"

"Be close," Nate whispered back, again afraid a loud voice might ruin everything. "Be close to you."

"Why couldn't you...we, do that before?" Dan asked, studying Nate's face.

"It would have been so weird," Nate confessed. "Serena, Blair...Chuck." Nate said.

"Good point," Dan nodded. "So you're saying because my book destroyed my social life...we can...try?"

"Exactly," Nate nodded, face a small smile. "But, what did you mean by try?"

"Well, you know, do what you've said you always wanted to do." Dan laughed.

"That's a lot of stuff, Dan," Nate confessed. "A lot."

"Tell me about it all." Dan asked, truly curious.

"I'm pretty sure we're supposed to be dating." Nate said bluntly.

"Supposed to?" Dan repeated.

"Remember how crazy high school was?" Nate asked. Dan nodded. "Well, it always seemed kinda like you and me were always able to patch things up quicker than everybody else."

Dan nodded in agreement, slightly touched at the obvious thought Nate had put into all of his words. It couldn't be easy to suddenly be thrown into a situation, and he appreciated how calmly Nate was about the whole thing. "Go on." Dan encouraged gently, giving Nate a little peck on the nose.

"It's...confusing, man," Nate laughed, face tinged a playful red from the kiss. "First it was pressure to date Blair, then Serena..."

"And yet, here you are," Dan took over. "So, you're saying you've always liked me?"

"Yeah," Nate nodded. "Yeah."

"Can I ask why?"

Nate could have given Dan a whole list of reasons, like the list of reasons he had scribbled throughout the pages of his copy of Inside. But that would have been too much. It was easier for him to just roll on top of Dan and smash their lips together. Dan, in almost typically awkward Humphrey fashion, groaned and squirmed, but made no genuine attempt to resist. He was totally overridden as Nate forced his tongue into his mouth, determined to explore every inch of the mouth he knew he and no one elsed deserved. It was laughable to assume that anyone but him deserved Dan.

Nate's territorial desires ramped up, a decent sized part of him willfully ignored Dan's slightly frantic motions that were trying to communicate he didn't have any spare oxygen left. Nate eventually pulled back, albeit hesitantly. He smirked while Dan panted. "Huh. So that's what it takes to shut you up."

Dan, completely red in the face, could merely keep panting, eyes wide in a cute little combination of shock and arousal."The...umm... uhh... pizza will get cold if we keep this up." He babbled.

"That's all you can think about?" Nate laughed, rolling his eyes just a little.

"Uh-huh," Dan nodded. "Just about."

"Fine, Dan. Fine." Nate said with his best mock-anger. Dan laughed a little as he deposited slices of pizza on plates. He handed off the plate with the larger slices to Nate. Whatever manners and etiquette that had been drilled into the young Archibald went out the window whenever he was around Dan. It's not like Dan Humphrey was going to complain about how he ate. That was yet another thing Dan had going for him, his 'lack' of a UES upbringing meant he didn't always wear suits or act like every little thing was a formal cocktail gala. "So, you left out the really embarassing stuff." Nate said.

"Like what?" Dan asked, just a little curious.

"Like the scar story," Nate said, grabbing for said marked appendage."Why did you leave this out?"

"How was I supposed to work it in?" Dan laughed. "We weren't together then."

It took the two a full two minutes of silence for the two to realize what Dan had said.

"But we are now?" Nate asked, essentially the fate of his world hanging on the response.

"Yes," Dan answered, nodding. "If you don't mind being stuck with a wayward, outcast writer from the wrong side of town."

"Those all sound like turn-ons to me." Nate said, sealing the answer with a wink